Two Sheds and a Rain Shelter in the Trees: Part 2

By the beginning of March I’d raised the frame of the rain shelter, built of 4”x6” treated timbers bolted together, the four corners resting on and fastened to buried concrete piers imbedded in poured concrete mixed in one of our wheelbarrows conveniently located where it was needed.

I’d carefully located the four corners and confirmed that the piers would be level with one another. Actually they weren’t quite but were good enough. The frame was strong but wobbled. I would eventually decide that the corners needed diagonal supports but given my design philosophy of minimal structure to create a desired space and favoring flexibility over rigidity, wobble was acceptable. I wasn’t worried that the rain shelter would be broken by or carried away by wind. But what did I know? A real architect might have said I was a fool.

Laying and screwing down polycarbonate corrugated sheets to make a translucent roof

I laid the corrugated polycarbonate sheets across rafters I’d attached to the rain shelter’s frame with steel brackets and drilled holes in the sheets and fastened them down with with roofing screws fitted with flexible washers under the heads to prevent rain leakage.

One way to fasten down corrugated roofing is to lay it across wood spacers that follow the contours of the corrugated sheets and then screw down the sheets from the tops of the corrugations. That’s not what I did. I did not use the wavy spacers and I screwed the sheets down from the valleys, not the hills.

I used the same technique for the two sheds as well. None of the roofs leaked then. Twelve years later? I don’t know. With the rain shelter raised and roofed I could move my materials to drier quarters and begin construction of the two hers and his sheds.

Raid shelter stores building materials during shed and patio building projects

The sheds would be close to the rain shelter but Yvonne insisted that the siting not create a rectangle but show a more pleasing randomness. The shed fronts would be at a slight angle to one another.

Our septic drain field was in the general vicinity of the shelter and sheds. I wanted to make sure the field wasn’t covered and was in fact set back from the field. We intended to have a fire pit in more or less the center of the three structures. The fire pit couldn’t affect the drain field either so that fact entered into siting geometry as well.

Each shed would have seven poles (treated 4x4s) to support it; four in the front and three in the back. The front poles, two on each side, would provide an 8’ opening that would be covered by two 4’ sliding doors, one coming from the left and one from the right.

The seven poles would be set on piers imbedded in poured concrete and would have to be steadied by supports while the rest of the frame was bring constructed – since nothing held up the poles. The floor would sit over the ground on 2x6s hung on the poles.

Yvonne’s shed (left); seven poles held in place waiting for additonal structure

With the poles up and plumb I could work on the rest of the skeleton and roof rafters.

Yvonne’s shed ready for roofing

The shed roof extended two feet beyond the walls all around.

The sloped shed roof extended beyond the walls

When I remodeled the two-car garage into a studio/loft/bedroom, I saved the panels making up the garage door and used them for much of the back wall of Yvonne’s shed.

Shed wall from repurposed garage door

I used 3/4” plywood for the floor and 3/4” oriented strand board for sheathing.

Plywood floor, oriented strand board for sheathing

For doors, I hung two 4×8 strand board panels from barn door sliding hangers and tracks.

Two 4×8 strand board sliding doors

Some quick shelves and Yvonne’s shed is ready for use.

Yvonne’s shed ready for use. Note how light floods in through polycarbonate roof

When remodeling the garage I removed and replaced one of the windows. I stuck the window into Yvonne’s shed wall.

Repurposed garage window for Yvonne’s shed

Once Yvonne’s shed was closed in I did the same with my shed. I had one more garage door panel I could use, covering the rest of the rear wall with strand board but allowing space at the top for transparent plexiglass.

Second shed goes up

The original owner/builder had left extra, clear cedar siding in the garage. When remodeling the garage I moved the siding out, wrapped it in plastic sheeting and stored it off the ground. I wanted to use it to cover the sheds, computed how much wall it would cover, hung it on both sheds and then covered the remaining wall with plywood.

Left-over house siding used to cover sheds – as far as it would go. Then plywood.

The finished sheds worked well, were always pleasant to be in, and never required artificial light on cloudy days even though they were under trees.